This book explores the nexus of time, truth, and death in the symbolic world of medieval kabbalah. Demonstrating that the historical and theoretical relationship between kabbalah and western ...
More

This book explores the nexus of time, truth, and death in the symbolic world of medieval kabbalah. Demonstrating that the historical and theoretical relationship between kabbalah and western philosophy is far more intimate and extensive than any previous scholar has ever suggested, the book draws an extraordinary range of thinkers such as Frederic Jameson, Martin Heidegger, Franz Rosenzweig, William Blake, Julia Kristeva, Friedrich Schelling, and a host of kabbalistic figures into deep conversation with one another. The book discusses Islamic mysticism and Buddhist thought in relation to the Jewish esoteric tradition as it opens the possibility of a temporal triumph of temporality and the conquering of time through time. The framework for this examination is the rabbinic teaching that the word emet, “truth,” comprises the first, middle, and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet, alef, mem, and tau, which serve, in turn, as semiotic signposts for the three tenses of time—past, present, and future. By heeding the letters of emet we discern the truth of time manifestly concealed in the time of truth, the beginning that cannot begin if it is to be the beginning, the middle that re/marks the place of origin and destiny, and the end that is the figuration of the impossible disclosing the impossibility of figuration, the finitude of death that facilitates the possibility of rebirth. The time of death does not mark the death of time, but time immortal, the moment of truth that bestows on the truth of the moment an endless beginning of a beginningless end, the truth of death encountered incessantly in retracing steps of time yet to be taken—between, before, beyond.Less

Alef, Mem, Tau : Kabbalistic Musings on Time, Truth, and Death

Elliot Wolfson

Published in print: 2006-04-05

This book explores the nexus of time, truth, and death in the symbolic world of medieval kabbalah. Demonstrating that the historical and theoretical relationship between kabbalah and western philosophy is far more intimate and extensive than any previous scholar has ever suggested, the book draws an extraordinary range of thinkers such as Frederic Jameson, Martin Heidegger, Franz Rosenzweig, William Blake, Julia Kristeva, Friedrich Schelling, and a host of kabbalistic figures into deep conversation with one another. The book discusses Islamic mysticism and Buddhist thought in relation to the Jewish esoteric tradition as it opens the possibility of a temporal triumph of temporality and the conquering of time through time. The framework for this examination is the rabbinic teaching that the word emet, “truth,” comprises the first, middle, and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet, alef, mem, and tau, which serve, in turn, as semiotic signposts for the three tenses of time—past, present, and future. By heeding the letters of emet we discern the truth of time manifestly concealed in the time of truth, the beginning that cannot begin if it is to be the beginning, the middle that re/marks the place of origin and destiny, and the end that is the figuration of the impossible disclosing the impossibility of figuration, the finitude of death that facilitates the possibility of rebirth. The time of death does not mark the death of time, but time immortal, the moment of truth that bestows on the truth of the moment an endless beginning of a beginningless end, the truth of death encountered incessantly in retracing steps of time yet to be taken—between, before, beyond.

Blood for Thought delves into a relatively unexplored area of classical rabbinic literature: the vast corpus of laws, regulations, and instructions pertaining to sacrificial rituals. The book traces ...
More

Blood for Thought delves into a relatively unexplored area of classical rabbinic literature: the vast corpus of laws, regulations, and instructions pertaining to sacrificial rituals. The book traces and analyzes the ways in which the early rabbis interpreted and conceived of biblical sacrifices, and examines sacrifice and worship in the temple as sites through which the rabbis negotiated new and old intellectual, political, and religious ideas and practices. In its focus on legal-ritual texts and in its cultural orientation, this book diverges from the prevalent approach to the cessation of sacrifice in early Judaism. Rather than viewing the rabbinic project as an attempt to transform a sacrificial religion into a non-sacrificial religion, Blood for Thought argues that the rabbis developed anewsacrificial vision. This new sacrificial vision does not seek to “substitute” obsolete sacrificial practices, but rather to rearrange, reframe, and redefine sacrifice as a critically important component of social and religious life. The book argues that through their seemingly technical legal and ritual discussions, the rabbis present remarkably innovative perspectives on sacrifices and radical interpretations of biblical cultic institutions, and that their reinvention of sacrifice gives this practice new meanings within the greater context of the rabbis’ political and religious ideology.Less

Blood for Thought : The Reinvention of Sacrifice in Early Rabbinic Literature

Mira Balberg

Published in print: 2017-09-26

Blood for Thought delves into a relatively unexplored area of classical rabbinic literature: the vast corpus of laws, regulations, and instructions pertaining to sacrificial rituals. The book traces and analyzes the ways in which the early rabbis interpreted and conceived of biblical sacrifices, and examines sacrifice and worship in the temple as sites through which the rabbis negotiated new and old intellectual, political, and religious ideas and practices. In its focus on legal-ritual texts and in its cultural orientation, this book diverges from the prevalent approach to the cessation of sacrifice in early Judaism. Rather than viewing the rabbinic project as an attempt to transform a sacrificial religion into a non-sacrificial religion, Blood for Thought argues that the rabbis developed anewsacrificial vision. This new sacrificial vision does not seek to “substitute” obsolete sacrificial practices, but rather to rearrange, reframe, and redefine sacrifice as a critically important component of social and religious life. The book argues that through their seemingly technical legal and ritual discussions, the rabbis present remarkably innovative perspectives on sacrifices and radical interpretations of biblical cultic institutions, and that their reinvention of sacrifice gives this practice new meanings within the greater context of the rabbis’ political and religious ideology.

Diaspora, considered as a context for insights into Jewish identity, brings together a lively, interdisciplinary group of scholars in this innovative volume. Readers needn't expect, however, to find ...
More

Diaspora, considered as a context for insights into Jewish identity, brings together a lively, interdisciplinary group of scholars in this innovative volume. Readers needn't expect, however, to find easy agreement on what those insights are. The concept “diaspora” itself has proved controversial; galut, the traditional Hebrew expression for the Jews' perennial condition, is better translated as “exile.” The very distinction between diaspora and exile, although difficult to analyze, is important enough to form the basis of several chapters in this collection. “Identity” is an even more elusive concept. The chapters to this volume explore Jewish identity—or, more accurately, Jewish identities—from the mutually illuminating perspectives of anthropology, art history, comparative literature, cultural studies, German history, philosophy, political theory, and sociology. The chapters bring new emphases to Jewish and cultural studies, as well as the emerging field of diaspora studies. The book mirrors the richness of experience and the attendant virtual impossibility of definition that constitute the challenge of understanding Jewish identity.Less

Diasporas and Exiles : Varieties of Jewish Identity

Published in print: 2002-10-07

Diaspora, considered as a context for insights into Jewish identity, brings together a lively, interdisciplinary group of scholars in this innovative volume. Readers needn't expect, however, to find easy agreement on what those insights are. The concept “diaspora” itself has proved controversial; galut, the traditional Hebrew expression for the Jews' perennial condition, is better translated as “exile.” The very distinction between diaspora and exile, although difficult to analyze, is important enough to form the basis of several chapters in this collection. “Identity” is an even more elusive concept. The chapters to this volume explore Jewish identity—or, more accurately, Jewish identities—from the mutually illuminating perspectives of anthropology, art history, comparative literature, cultural studies, German history, philosophy, political theory, and sociology. The chapters bring new emphases to Jewish and cultural studies, as well as the emerging field of diaspora studies. The book mirrors the richness of experience and the attendant virtual impossibility of definition that constitute the challenge of understanding Jewish identity.

In modern-day Ukraine, east of the Carpathian Mountains, there is an invisible city. Known as Czernowitz, the “Vienna of the East” under the Habsburg empire, this vibrant Jewish-German Eastern ...
More

In modern-day Ukraine, east of the Carpathian Mountains, there is an invisible city. Known as Czernowitz, the “Vienna of the East” under the Habsburg empire, this vibrant Jewish-German Eastern European culture vanished after World War II, yet an idealized version lives on, suspended in the memories of its dispersed people and passed down to their children like a precious and haunted heirloom. In this original blend of history and communal memoir, the authors chronicle the city's survival in personal, familial, and cultural memory. They find not only evidence of a cosmopolitan culture of nostalgic lore, but also of oppression, shattered promises, and shadows of the Holocaust in Romania. Their book presents a historical account of Jewish Czernowitz and offers an analysis of memory's echo across generations.Less

Ghosts of Home : The Afterlife of Czernowitz in Jewish Memory

Marianne HirschLeo Spitzer

Published in print: 2010-01-19

In modern-day Ukraine, east of the Carpathian Mountains, there is an invisible city. Known as Czernowitz, the “Vienna of the East” under the Habsburg empire, this vibrant Jewish-German Eastern European culture vanished after World War II, yet an idealized version lives on, suspended in the memories of its dispersed people and passed down to their children like a precious and haunted heirloom. In this original blend of history and communal memoir, the authors chronicle the city's survival in personal, familial, and cultural memory. They find not only evidence of a cosmopolitan culture of nostalgic lore, but also of oppression, shattered promises, and shadows of the Holocaust in Romania. Their book presents a historical account of Jewish Czernowitz and offers an analysis of memory's echo across generations.

This book offers a comprehensive study of the legal material found in the Dead Sea Scrolls and its significance in the greater history of Jewish religious law (Halakhah). The study revives an issue ...
More

This book offers a comprehensive study of the legal material found in the Dead Sea Scrolls and its significance in the greater history of Jewish religious law (Halakhah). The study revives an issue long dormant in religious scholarship: namely, the relationship between rabbinic law, as written more than one hundred years after the destruction of the Second Temple, and Jewish practice during the Second Temple. The monumental discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in Qumran led to the revelation of this missing material and the closing of a two-hundred-year gap in knowledge, allowing work to begin comparing specific laws of the Qumran sect with rabbinic laws. With the publication of scroll 4QMMT—a polemical letter by Dead Sea sectarians concerning points of Jewish law—an effective comparison was finally possible. This is the first book-length treatment of the material to appear since the publication of 4QMMT and the first attempt to apply its discoveries to the work of nineteenth-century scholars. It is also the first work on this topic written in a style that is accessible to non-specialists in the history of Jewish law.Less

Halakhah in the Making : The Development of Jewish Law from Qumran to the Rabbis

Aharon Shemesh

Published in print: 2009-11-18

This book offers a comprehensive study of the legal material found in the Dead Sea Scrolls and its significance in the greater history of Jewish religious law (Halakhah). The study revives an issue long dormant in religious scholarship: namely, the relationship between rabbinic law, as written more than one hundred years after the destruction of the Second Temple, and Jewish practice during the Second Temple. The monumental discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in Qumran led to the revelation of this missing material and the closing of a two-hundred-year gap in knowledge, allowing work to begin comparing specific laws of the Qumran sect with rabbinic laws. With the publication of scroll 4QMMT—a polemical letter by Dead Sea sectarians concerning points of Jewish law—an effective comparison was finally possible. This is the first book-length treatment of the material to appear since the publication of 4QMMT and the first attempt to apply its discoveries to the work of nineteenth-century scholars. It is also the first work on this topic written in a style that is accessible to non-specialists in the history of Jewish law.

For many years Hannah Arendt (1906–1975) has been the object of intense debate. After her bitter critiques of Zionism, which seemed to nullify her early involvement with that movement, and her ...
More

For many years Hannah Arendt (1906–1975) has been the object of intense debate. After her bitter critiques of Zionism, which seemed to nullify her early involvement with that movement, and her extremely controversial Eichmann in Jerusalem (1963), Arendt became virtually a taboo figure in Israeli and Jewish circles. Challenging the “curse” of her own title, this book carries the scholarly investigation of this much-discussed writer to the very place where her ideas have been most conspicuously ignored. Sometimes sympathetically, sometimes critically, these distinguished contributors reexamine crucial aspects of Arendt's life and thought: her complex identity as a German Jew; her commitment to and critique of Zionism and the state of Israel; her works on “totalitarianism,” Nazism, and the Eichmann trial; her relationship to key twentieth-century intellectuals; her intimate and tense connections to German culture; and her reworkings of political thought and philosophy in the light of the experience of the twentieth century.Less

Hannah Arendt in Jerusalem

Published in print: 2001-08-01

For many years Hannah Arendt (1906–1975) has been the object of intense debate. After her bitter critiques of Zionism, which seemed to nullify her early involvement with that movement, and her extremely controversial Eichmann in Jerusalem (1963), Arendt became virtually a taboo figure in Israeli and Jewish circles. Challenging the “curse” of her own title, this book carries the scholarly investigation of this much-discussed writer to the very place where her ideas have been most conspicuously ignored. Sometimes sympathetically, sometimes critically, these distinguished contributors reexamine crucial aspects of Arendt's life and thought: her complex identity as a German Jew; her commitment to and critique of Zionism and the state of Israel; her works on “totalitarianism,” Nazism, and the Eichmann trial; her relationship to key twentieth-century intellectuals; her intimate and tense connections to German culture; and her reworkings of political thought and philosophy in the light of the experience of the twentieth century.

The beginnings of Sephardic crypto-Judaism are found in fourteenth-century Spain when, as a result of social and political changes, attacks against the centuries-old Spanish-Jewish community became ...
More

The beginnings of Sephardic crypto-Judaism are found in fourteenth-century Spain when, as a result of social and political changes, attacks against the centuries-old Spanish-Jewish community became pervasive. Fueled by both economic conditions and ecclesiastical anti-Semitism, violence against the Jews began in 1391 in Seville and quickly spread to Ciudad Real and Burgos, before reaching Valencia. Within the year, Jewish communities in Toledo, Barcelona, Gerona, and Aragon bore the effects of mob-incited violence as homes were burned, businesses looted, synagogues destroyed, and Jews murdered. As the religious persecution escalated, large numbers of Jews acquiesced to the demands of forced conversion, while others voluntarily chose to become Christian. The result of these events was the creation of a disparate and varied convert population, whose differing approaches to Christian assimilation transformed the religious culture of medieval Spain. Amid the diverse reactions to the widespread policies of forced conversion was a strategy of resistance that came to be known as crypto-Judaism. This practice, which was adopted by a portion of the Jewish converts, involved the clandestine observance of Judaism among individuals and families who had undergone conversion but who secretly remained faithful to Jewish beliefs and traditions. This study of contemporary crypto-Jews traces the group's history of clandestinely conducting their faith, and their present-day efforts to reclaim their past. The author combines historical and social scientific theory to fashion an analysis of hidden ancestry and the transformation of religious and ethnic identity.Less

Hidden Heritage : The Legacy of the Crypto-Jews

Janet Liebman Jacobs

Published in print: 2002-09-16

The beginnings of Sephardic crypto-Judaism are found in fourteenth-century Spain when, as a result of social and political changes, attacks against the centuries-old Spanish-Jewish community became pervasive. Fueled by both economic conditions and ecclesiastical anti-Semitism, violence against the Jews began in 1391 in Seville and quickly spread to Ciudad Real and Burgos, before reaching Valencia. Within the year, Jewish communities in Toledo, Barcelona, Gerona, and Aragon bore the effects of mob-incited violence as homes were burned, businesses looted, synagogues destroyed, and Jews murdered. As the religious persecution escalated, large numbers of Jews acquiesced to the demands of forced conversion, while others voluntarily chose to become Christian. The result of these events was the creation of a disparate and varied convert population, whose differing approaches to Christian assimilation transformed the religious culture of medieval Spain. Amid the diverse reactions to the widespread policies of forced conversion was a strategy of resistance that came to be known as crypto-Judaism. This practice, which was adopted by a portion of the Jewish converts, involved the clandestine observance of Judaism among individuals and families who had undergone conversion but who secretly remained faithful to Jewish beliefs and traditions. This study of contemporary crypto-Jews traces the group's history of clandestinely conducting their faith, and their present-day efforts to reclaim their past. The author combines historical and social scientific theory to fashion an analysis of hidden ancestry and the transformation of religious and ethnic identity.

This contribution to ongoing debates about perceptions of the Jews in antiquity examines the attitudes of Greek writers of the Hellenistic period toward the Jewish people. Among the leading Greek ...
More

This contribution to ongoing debates about perceptions of the Jews in antiquity examines the attitudes of Greek writers of the Hellenistic period toward the Jewish people. Among the leading Greek intellectuals who devoted special attention to the Jews were Theophrastus (the successor of Aristotle), Hecataeus of Abdera (the father of “scientific” ethnography), and Apollonius Molon (probably the greatest rhetorician of the Hellenistic world). The author examines the references of these writers and others to the Jews in light of their literary output and personal background; their religious, social, and political views; their literary and stylistic methods; ethnographic stereotypes current at the time; and more.Less

The Image of the Jews in Greek Literature : The Hellenistic Period

Bezalel Bar-Kochva

Published in print: 2010-02-02

This contribution to ongoing debates about perceptions of the Jews in antiquity examines the attitudes of Greek writers of the Hellenistic period toward the Jewish people. Among the leading Greek intellectuals who devoted special attention to the Jews were Theophrastus (the successor of Aristotle), Hecataeus of Abdera (the father of “scientific” ethnography), and Apollonius Molon (probably the greatest rhetorician of the Hellenistic world). The author examines the references of these writers and others to the Jews in light of their literary output and personal background; their religious, social, and political views; their literary and stylistic methods; ethnographic stereotypes current at the time; and more.

Judaism is often understood as the way of life defined by the Torah of Moses, but it was not always so. This book identifies key moments in the rise of the Torah, beginning with the formation of ...
More

Judaism is often understood as the way of life defined by the Torah of Moses, but it was not always so. This book identifies key moments in the rise of the Torah, beginning with the formation of Deuteronomy, advancing through the reform of Ezra, the impact of the suppression of the Torah by Antiochus Epiphanes and the consequent Maccabean revolt, and the rise of Jewish sectarianism. It also discusses variant forms of Judaism, some of which are not Torah-centered and others which construe the Torah through the lenses of Hellenistic culture or through higher, apocalyptic, revelation. It concludes with the critique of the Torah in the writings of Paul.Less

Invention of Judaism : Torah and Jewish Identity from Deuteronomy to Paul

John J. Collins

Published in print: 2017-02-14

Judaism is often understood as the way of life defined by the Torah of Moses, but it was not always so. This book identifies key moments in the rise of the Torah, beginning with the formation of Deuteronomy, advancing through the reform of Ezra, the impact of the suppression of the Torah by Antiochus Epiphanes and the consequent Maccabean revolt, and the rise of Jewish sectarianism. It also discusses variant forms of Judaism, some of which are not Torah-centered and others which construe the Torah through the lenses of Hellenistic culture or through higher, apocalyptic, revelation. It concludes with the critique of the Torah in the writings of Paul.

This book explores the ways in which the early rabbis reshaped and reinvented the biblical laws of ritual purity and impurity, and it argues that the purity discourse that the rabbis created ...
More

This book explores the ways in which the early rabbis reshaped and reinvented the biblical laws of ritual purity and impurity, and it argues that the purity discourse that the rabbis created generated a new and unique notion of a bodily self. Focusing on the Mishnah, a Palestinian legal codex compiled around the turn of the third century CE, Mira Balberg shows that the rabbis construct the processes of contracting, conveying, and managing ritual impurity as sites in which the relations between one's self and one's body—and, more broadly, the relations between one's self and one's human and nonhuman environment— are negotiated. Through their new form of purity discourse, with its heightened emphasis on subjectivity, consciousness, and self-reflection, the rabbis put new substance into the biblically inherited language and practices of purity and impurity, which closely resonates with central cultural concerns and intellectual commitments that prevailed in the Greco-Roman world of the first centuries of the common era. The book thus adds a new dimension to the study of practices of making the self in antiquity by suggesting that not only philosophical exercises but also legal paradigms function as sites through which the self is shaped and improved.Less

Purity, Body, and Self in Early Rabbinic Literature

Mira Balberg

Published in print: 2014-02-15

This book explores the ways in which the early rabbis reshaped and reinvented the biblical laws of ritual purity and impurity, and it argues that the purity discourse that the rabbis created generated a new and unique notion of a bodily self. Focusing on the Mishnah, a Palestinian legal codex compiled around the turn of the third century CE, Mira Balberg shows that the rabbis construct the processes of contracting, conveying, and managing ritual impurity as sites in which the relations between one's self and one's body—and, more broadly, the relations between one's self and one's human and nonhuman environment— are negotiated. Through their new form of purity discourse, with its heightened emphasis on subjectivity, consciousness, and self-reflection, the rabbis put new substance into the biblically inherited language and practices of purity and impurity, which closely resonates with central cultural concerns and intellectual commitments that prevailed in the Greco-Roman world of the first centuries of the common era. The book thus adds a new dimension to the study of practices of making the self in antiquity by suggesting that not only philosophical exercises but also legal paradigms function as sites through which the self is shaped and improved.